Super Smash Bros Brawl: Mario vs Sonic
by Blue Phoenix 12
Summary: It's the Smash Tournament Final, and the two finalists are ready to face off in the battle of the century. One of the brawlers is Mario, the other is Sonic the Hedgehog. Which of them will win the match and earn himself the title of Champion Brawler?


The stadium was packed. The crowd was cheering. Expectations were high. This was the match everyone had been waiting for, the one every person in the stands had been dying to watch: it was the Smash Tournament Final, expected to be the biggest match of the season. After 32 brawlers had fought each other through a total of 30 tiring battles, it all came down to this.

The contenders were already in place, standing on opposite sides of the Midair Stadium battle stage. On one end stood a small but strong Italian plumber in a red cap and blue overalls, known simply as Mario. On the other end stood a tall blue hedgehog in red running shoes who claimed to be the fastest thing alive, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Mario and Sonic stared at each other from opposing sides, waiting for the signal to start. As they quietly studied each other, a great voice suddenly boomed out over the entire stadium. It was counting down to the exact moment when the brawlers would commence their battle. 3... Mario pulled his cap down tighter over his head... 2... Sonic bent down and placed his hands on the floor, poised to dash... 1... both fighters tensed up, ready to rush off at the signal...

"GO!"

Neither Mario nor Sonic hesitated for even a split second. Before the word had even finished echoing around the stadium, the plumber was already running forward, and the hedgehog was rolling across the stage at high speed in his signature Spin Dash move. Mario was ready for the attack, and jumped out of the way just in time to avoid Sonic's attack.

However, he was not ready for Sonic's lightning-quick reflexes. The hedgehog rapidly reversed his attack direction, and the instant the Italian plumber landed on the ground, he was hit by the fast-rotating quills on his opponent. Sonic had landed the first hit, and as he pulled out of his move and stood up, the crowd cheered him on.

Mario was not fazed. He was on his feet again in a flash, and immediately sent several fireballs Sonic's way. The blue hedgehog didn't have time to react to the attack, which was too close to avoid, and was hit by the small but powerfully scorching projectiles of flame. The crowd cheered again, this time for Mario.

The battle raged on. Each time it seemed that one contender was about to win, the other made an amazing comeback, and leveled the score once again. Sonic struck Mario with a powerful homing attack, to which Mario responded with his Super Jump Punch, knocking his rival back. The Italian plumber then scored multiple hits on the hedgehog with a tornado-spin attack, but Sonic came back with a sideways spinning attack in midair. Both brawlers were fighting so skillfully that not a single person watching the match could even guess who would emerge the victor.

Whenever Mario was knocked off the stage, he would successfully make his way back with a couple of midair jumps and a well-timed jump punch. Whenever Sonic was sent flying, he would return by using a midair Spin Dash, then producing a special spring trampoline to propel himself high into the air. It didn't seem like the match would end anytime soon. It was time to send in a special and extremely sought-after item, the most valuable and powerful one in the brawl.

The tournament committee watching from the VIP box above the stands decided it was time to put the finishing touch on the already thoroughly thrilling match. They set their controls to trigger the highly-coveted item, and in three seconds, a multicolored sphere appeared above the battle stage and began to float over the contenders' heads: the Smash Ball.

Mario and Sonic suddenly stopped attacking each other and froze where they stood, which was on the floating platforms on opposite sides of the stage. Simultaneously, they each glanced up at the floating sphere, then back at their opponent. In a split second, their focus had changed from each other to the Smash Ball flying directly above them.

In the exact same instant, both the plumber and the hedgehog jumped up towards the ball floating in the air between them. Everyone in the stadium understood why they were after this item: the first fighter to break the Smash Ball would be temporarily imbued with an incredible amount of power, which would be used to quickly dispatch their rival, and consequently win them the match and the title of Champion Brawler.

Mario and Sonic reached the Smash Ball at the same time, crashing into it and then flying past each other as the sphere rose higher into the air. Upon landing, the rivals quickly turned back and continued to attack the item. Mario punched it, Sonic kicked it, Mario hit it with a few fireballs, Sonic struck it with a homing attack...

Finally, as the several gaping cracks in the sphere were beginning to give way and the multicolored light within began to shine through, the two brawlers made one last leap towards the Smash Ball. As fate would have it, they both reached the item at the exact same time... and shattered it together with their combined force.

In mere seconds, the entire audience would realize that they had just witnessed the incredible: for the very first time in Brawl history, the Smash Ball had been broken by _two_ fighters at once, and thus its power had been shared among the contenders. Both Mario and Sonic felt the thrilling rush that follows shattering the sphere, and neither of them wasted any time in powering up to use the strongest move in their arsenal.

Sonic called forth the power of Chaos Control to transform himself into his super form, while Mario summoned an astounding amount of firepower to blast at his opponent. As the transformed hedgehog sped towards his rival in the middle of the floor, the Italian plumber released his accumulated power and threw a huge spiraling wave of fire towards his opponent's end of the stage.

Because the Final Smash power had been split among the two brawlers, they both had incredible attack strength, but at the same time, neither of them was completely invulnerable to the other's strike. The second the Italian's smash fire was released, Sonic crashed head on into Mario, who was sent flying at an amazing speed off the stage. In the same instant, Mario's fire, which had already been unleashed, rushed into Sonic and pushed him back off the battle floor at an equally high velocity, breaking his Chaos Control power.

As both fighters flew towards opposite sides of the stadium, the crowd gave a huge cheer, as much for one contender as for the other. Mario and Sonic crashed into the huge marble walls of the Midair Stadium, then fell to the ground below. The fight was over, the greatest brawl anyone could ever remember watching had just come to an end... and not a single spectator had any idea who had won.

Fortunately for the tournament committee, cameras had been rolling and recording the battle from every angle of the stadium. As small floating platforms appeared before the brawlers and lifted them back up to the stage, the staff reviewed the tapes several times over, from the general view of the battle to individual shots of the fighters themselves. They played the recordings in slow motion, analyzing them frame by frame, to try and see who had been the first of the two to hit the wall.

Meanwhile, Mario and Sonic were dropped onto the battle stage once more, where they quietly waited for the results to be announced. They glanced at one other with a look most friendly rivals give each other, then turned to the enormous screen looming over them at the top of the stands. On the screen were two profile portraits, side by side: one was of Mario, the other was of Sonic. When the results were announced, the runner-up's portrait would fade out, and the winner's name would appear over their picture covering the screen.

It took several minutes for the committee to come to a decision, several minutes in which nobody in the stadium seemed to breathe. When every member of the staff was in agreement, the great booming voice rang out over the stands once more, telling the audience that a decision had finally been reached. As every eye in the stadium turned towards the great screen over the stands, the picture began to change... Mario and Sonic each held their breath...

And suddenly, the entire audience gasped. Everyone was in shock, because on the giant screen, two names had appeared: Mario over the picture of the Italian plumber, and Sonic over the picture of the blue hedgehog. This could only mean one thing: the final match of the tournament had ended in a draw, and the next step was up to the contenders. There would either be a Sudden Death match, or two winners.

Mario and Sonic stared wide-eyed at the screen for a minute, then turned to each other. No one in the stadium spoke; all eyes were on the two brawlers on the stage. After staring at each other for several seconds, each fighter suddenly began to lift their right hand slowly, cueing a sharp intake of breath from the spectators in the stands... then, simultaneously, they each shot their hand forward to eagerly shake the other's, grinning broadly at one another.

A huge uproar lifted from the entire audience. Everyone stood up and cheered loudly as the brawlers released each other's hand and waved to the people in the stands. It had been the match of the century, and every spectator applauded when the enormous Smash Tournament trophy was lowered between the rivals. For the very first time in the history of the Brawl, it would be shared among two true Champion Brawlers: Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.


End file.
